Anna M. Kososki Boerner

Anna M. Kososki was born on this day, 22 Feb, in 1908. Anna was the oldest daughter of immigrant parents. She married my great-uncle, Martin William Boerner, when she was 16 years old and he was 20. Martin was the brother of my paternal grandmother, Anna Marie Boerner Aderman.

Anna Kososki’s father, Stephan “Steve” Stanley Kososki immigrated from Abienko Poviot Yoisto, Poland. He boarded the Kroonland on 15 Nov 1902 and entered the port at New York ten days later, 25 Nov 1902. His passage was paid by his brother, possibly the brother he was going to live with in the states, Jan Kososki.

Anna’s mother, Julia Forystek, was also a Polish immigrant, coming on the ship Friedrich der Gross, landing in New York on 7 Jun 1905 as a 16 year-old girl. According to the ship’s manifest, she may have traveled alone, but she was going to live with her sister in Norway, MI, USA. On 1 October 1906, she married Stephan Kososki in Marinette, Wisconsin.

Their first child, Anna, married Martin on 28 July 1924 in Iron Mountain, MI, USA, just a few miles from Niagara, WI which both of them claimed as their home at the time of their wedding. Niagara and Iron Mountain, well, technically Kingsford, MI are separated by the Menominee River. Because the communities are so close to their respective state borders and to each other, it is common for the residents to share the hospital in Iron Mountain, employment and shopping, and worship centers in their everyday lives.

Anna and Martin had two children, Dorothy and James. Martin was the publisher of the Niagara Journal, a weekly newspaper for the community.* To distinguish Anna Kososki Boerner from her sister-in-law (and my grandmother) Anna Boerner Aderman who also lived in Niagara, WI, the women were called “Big Annie” and “Little Annie.” Martin was a shorter, slight man and his wife was quite heavy. She is remembered as woman who . . . (Uncle Roger)

*Wisconsin Blue Book